During the 44th session of the Human Rights Council, QUNO delivered an oral statement at the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, Najat Maalla M'jid. The statement, delivered by Programme Assistant Lucy Halton, highlighted the ways in which children of incarcerated parents experience violence at many levels, including the heightened risks they are encountering during the Covid-19 pandemic. QUNO also asked the Special Representative what could be done to implement the strong recommendations on children of incarcerated parents in the Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty, including the recommendation of a presumption against custodial measures for parents. 

QUNO also thanked the Special Representative for her recent report on children deprived of their liberty in Latin America and the Caribbean, which included children of incarcerated parents, and in which our partners - Plataforma NNAPEs - played a key role. 

The statement also referred to worrying data from research recently published by the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents on the impact of government responses to the pandemic on these children, including the finding that 79% of children surveyed are having increased difficulty communicating with their incarcerated parent as a result of pandemic responses. QUNO, as co-Chair of the Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents, recently published a Briefing Paper outlining impacts and recommendations to states on the rights of children of parents who are incarcerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The statement is available in written format below, or can be viewed online here at Chapter 63, 01:50:31.